The Pentagon's 'Gay Bomb'

CBS2 re-reported today that The Sunshine Project, a Berkeley watchdog organization, received a report from the Pentagon admitting to "consider[ing], and then subsequently reject[ing], building the so-called gay bomb" -- a device conceived to make enemy soldiers sexually attracted to each other.

An excerpt:

As part of a military effort to develop non-lethal weapons, the proposal suggested, "One distasteful but completely non-lethal example would be strong aphrodisiacs, especially if the chemical also caused homosexual behavior."

The documents show the Air Force lab asked for $7.5 million to develop such a chemical weapon.

"The Ohio Air Force lab proposed that a bomb be developed that contained a chemical that would cause enemy soldiers to become gay, and to have their units break down because all their soldiers became irresistibly attractive to one another," Hammond said after reviewing the documents.

This seems like a prank or a proposal constructed under the influence of rat poison, but if it's not, the immediate question becomes: why make soldiers sexually attracted to each other instead of, say, sleepy? Well, looking at the original proposal (PDF), one can see that all sorts of ideas were thrown around -- chemicals that attract bugs, generally "annoying" chemicals, chemicals that would be "disruptive to unit morale and effectiveness," et cetera. Though the report admits none of these preposterous chemicals actually exist, it's comforting to know someone's having a little brainstorming fun in the Air Force -- even if the Air Force's idea of fun is idiotic and sick.

Also: it's worth noting that whoever convened to write this Air Force report considered homosexuality equivalent to the annoyance of UV rays:

One distasteful but completely non-lethal example would be strong aphrodisiacs, especially if the chemical also caused homosexual behavior. Another example would be a chemical that made personnel very sensitive to sunlight.

God bless the U.S.A.

More:

--BBC News: "US military pondered love not war"
--GLBT News: "'Gay Bomb' Project Long Since Abandoned"
--Wikipedia: "Gay bomb"

-- The Snitch